Thank you for your insight and the links!
You asked if this is the same issue resurfacing, but it’s not. As I mentioned above, the noise occurs even with OpenSL, and your links are about AAudio. In fact, I discussed this same issue here (Pop noise when playing with AAudio) four years ago, and it was resolved with a Samsung software update a few months later, as I noted here (The result of Oboe Tester 2). However, after that, a new cracking noise issue appeared with another Samsung update. With each software update, the noise has either gotten worse or better.
Remembering the AAudio noise issue, I always test with Wi-Fi off or in Airplane mode. I also test with a full battery or with a power cable connected to ensure the device runs at full performance. You might be right about Bluetooth’s larger buffer size, but I think such noise shouldn’t occur on the Galaxy S10, a premium model that supports Pro Audio mode, released long after AAudio’s first release. As mentioned earlier, it didn’t have any issues initially before problematic updates.
For our app, I believe we tested with a buffer size of 1024, but I might be wrong. However, I’m sure we tested with a 512 buffer size, and it’s not acceptable if going with 1024 is the solution in this day and age.
I want to check this again with Oboe, but I can’t right now due to ongoing projects. Testing the noise issue takes too much time and effort, and we don’t have enough time at the moment. The noise happens so randomly—sometimes very subtly, other times not at all, and then suddenly very severely. We have to test for at least an hour straight, concentrating on even small pops. Also, the same test needs to be performed on different devices for at least a week to see if it’s consistent across all devices.
Recently, I talked to a colleague about this frustrating noise issue and became curious if other audio experts like the FMOD team have had or heard of similar issues with Android devices. Thank you very much for sharing; I really appreciate it.
It would be greatly appreciated if the FMOD team could share their experiences or opinions on this as well.
I’m not asking for a solution; I’m just curious if we’re alone in the Android world.
Thanks a lot!